51 
landed in the south-west bay on the rocks a little to the south of 
the shepherd's liouse, but on leaving next day, the wind having 
veered round, we got on board our chartered fishing-smack where 
she lay anchored in the north-east l)ay. 
On the 10th Juno, 1879, Professor Ilcddlc and myself, having 
failed to come to terms with the cli<pio of Tarbert fishermen and 
boatmen, hiretl, along with Mi-s. Thomas,'^ a small boat which took 
us to the island of Scalpa,t before mentioned, where we intended 
to try our further luck ; here, most fortunately for us, a crew with 
the Captain of II.M. Yacht ‘Vigilant,’ which looks after the 
fislieries of the Long Island, arrived, and thanks to Mrs. Thomas’ 
introduction. Captain MacDonald most kindly offered to land us 
on the Shiants, wJiich wo gratefully accepted. AVc then succeeded 
in making arrangements — for a more moderate sum than that 
demanded by the Tarbert pcojile — for a fishing smack to come and 
take us off the following afternoon. 
With a light and favourable breeze we soon lay-to opposite the 
shepherd’s house ; a boat was manned, and soon afterwards wc and 
our small kit were landed, and the white sails of the yacht 
disappeared round the south end of Eilean-a-chillc, bound for 
Stornoway. M e received a hospitable Mcleome from the family, 
which consists of mother, two daughters, a deaf-and-dumb son, and 
a little girl. Ihc liUhcr of the flock was away on the mainland 
* Mrs. Thomas is widow of the late Capt. Thomas, R.N., who surveyed 
for the Admiralty a large portion of the Long Island and the surrounding 
seas. Mrs. Thomas has for many years done much to assist the natives of 
Harris and the Long Island, in obtaining a market for their worsted and 
other work, such as Harris tweeds, &c., and she has taken a fast hold upon 
the affections and respect of the native population. It is, however, to Ikj 
regretted, that witli their advanced knowledge of money’s worth, they 
should give way to such marked exhibitions of cupidity as Hr. Ileddlc and 
myself witnessed. 
+ Scalpa Island is a fishing station and contains a resident population of 
about 500 souls, for the moral and intellectual training of the younger 
portion of whom, quite a magnificent school-board erection has lately been 
completed. Here Dr. Hcddle discovered a very remarkable ice-boulder, 
which had evidently been borne from a seam in a hill side on the mainland 
of Harris about three miles distant to the north-west, which was clearly 
visible from the spiot where this huge boulder now lies, in the centre of the 
fishing village. 
E 2 
